The Black Hole remake — a brief update

Way back in September 2008, I passed along a bit of news to the effect that Disney was thinking of re-making The Black Hole (1979). That news was confirmed in November 2009, when it was announced that Joseph Kosinski — director of the upcoming Tron Legacy — had been given the job of updating this other Disney property as well.

At the time, not much was said about the concept behind the new movie, except that it would be “ground[ed] in the science of a black hole, much more so than in the original”. But a few days ago, Kosinski had this to say as well, in an interview with the MTV Movies Blog:

“It won’t be a sequel like ‘Tron,'” he explained. “This one will be a reimagining. For me, it would be taking ideas and iconic elements that struck me as timeless and cool and preserving them while weaving a new story around them that’s a little more ‘2001.'”

Among the elements Kosinski intends to keep are the red robot, the gnarly death of Cygnus’ top dog Dr. Alex Durant (played originally by Anthony Perkins) and the design of the ship.

“I saw ‘Black Hole’ as a little kid,” said Kosinski. “What sticks out most is the robot Maximilian. The blades and the vicious killing of Anthony Perkins. That freaked me out and that’s definitely going to be an element that will be preserved. The design of the Cygnus ship is one of the most iconic spaceships ever put to film. From a conceptual point of view, we know so much more about black holes now, the crazy things that go on as you approach them due to the intense gravitational pull and the effects on time and space. All that could provide us with some really cool film if we embrace it in a hard science way.”

Make of all that what you will. Personally, I find it interesting that both Tron and The Black Hole have been handed to the same director, since I always thought the “recognizers” in Tron (1982) bore a certain family resemblance to Maximilian, the evil red robot in The Black Hole.